Skip to main content
Taken for a ride
CARLOS MARTINEZ recommends a book on the ruthless exploitation of Deliveroo food couriers
PIC CAP Struggling against immiseration: a Deliveroo worker in Bristol Pic: Sam Saunders

Riding for Deliveroo
by Callum Cant
(Polity, £14.99)

INTRIGUED by the news of the first Deliveroo workers’ strikes in 2016, Callum Cant decided to conduct a “workers’ inquiry” by signing up to be a cycle courier for the increasingly popular food platform.

Riding for Deliveroo describes his experiences over the course of eight months, taking in the nature of the work, the ruthless and sophisticated methods of exploitation and the workers’ response to it.

[[{"fid":"16118","view_mode":"inlineright","fields":{"format":"inlineright","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":false,"field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":false},"link_text":null,"type":"media","field_deltas":{"2":{"format":"inlineright","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":false,"field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":false}},"attributes":{"class":"media-element file-inlineright","data-delta":"2"}}]]Cant describes how Deliveroo is constantly tweaking its process so as to ensure its wage bill is as low as possible. When it starts up in a given city, it will typically offer a reasonable hourly rate in order to attract couriers. Then, once it has a surplus labour force, it will move to a per-delivery piece-work system in order to intensify the work in busy periods and reduce costs in quiet ones.

Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer with French President Emmanu
Features / 7 March 2025
7 March 2025
CARLOS MARTINEZ condemns Europe’s failure to develop genuine autonomy from US hegemony, as leaders like Starmer and Macron cling to a declining imperial order rather than building good relations with the emerging powers
Taklimakan desert workers
Features / 28 December 2024
28 December 2024
Chinese socialist planning and action over decades have created the world’s greatest reforestation programme, writes CARLOS MARTINEZ, and now its lessons in fighting desertification and climate change are taking root worldwide
17 - PRC founding celebrations 2019
Features / 7 September 2024
7 September 2024
Despite relentless hostility, the People’s Republic of China has lifted millions out of poverty, and become a global leader in innovation and climate action, while pursuing peaceful development in a multipolar world, writes CARLOS MARTINEZ
In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, the return cap
Features / 9 July 2024
9 July 2024
Brussels is following the US’s lead in slapping punitive duties on China’s electric vehicles, sabotaging Europe’s climate goals and economic interests to appease Biden’s anti-Beijing crusade, writes CARLOS MARTINEZ
Similar stories
weiss
Books / 28 March 2025
28 March 2025
RON JACOBS welcomes the long overdue translation of an epic work that chronicles resistance to fascism during WWII
nottingham 1
Exhibition review / 20 February 2025
20 February 2025
ANDY HEDGECOCK relishes two exhibitions that blur the boundaries between art and community engagement
GR
Global Routes / 2 December 2024
2 December 2024
Two new releases from Burkina Faso and Niger, one from French-based Afro Latin The Bongo Hop, and rare Mexican bootlegs
Degas
Exhibition review / 7 June 2024
7 June 2024
HENRY BELL steps warily through the collection of a Glaswegian war profiteer to experience his collection of Degas’ remarkable images of working people